Indy Total Construction

Picture frames

Professional frames are expensive but worth it for valuable pictures. It is also advisable to have a picture professionally framed if the sides are longer than 1 m (3ft) because a frame as big as this is difficult for a beginner to handle.

There are various types of framing kit available, offering a choice of assembly, finish and color, the main drawback being that most of them are comparatively small. One of the cheapest is in the form of an acrylic box with a close-fitting piece of board to hold the picture in place. When finished, this has no visible frame. More sophisticated kits contain pieces of frame, mitred corners and clips, and fastenings to hang the picture from,- check whether you have to buy the backing board and glass separately.

Sandwich framing

An alternative to conventional framing is to place the picture between a sheet of board and a sheet of glass or acrylic, and to simply clip the edges together. This is quite easy to do at home because you can get the glass and board cut to size when you buy them and there is no complicated cutting or assembly.

Spring-loaded clips are available from art shops and framers. Clip sizes vary and should suit the thickness of the combined backing board, glass, picture and mount. Metal or plastic mirror clips, sold by glass merchants, ironmongers and DIY shops, can be used as well.

To fit spring clips:

1 Push a spring clip over the backing board on all four edges. Make a pencil mark where the inner edge of the clip meets the board.

2 Measure between the pencil mark and the edge of the board. Drawl lines this distance away and parallel to all the edges.

3 Make holes with a bradawl on the lines you have drawn through the smooth side of the board, a quarter of the board’s width from each corner.

4 Place the glass, mount and board face down on a cloth. Fit the spring clips so that the inner ends notch into the holes made with the bradawl.

Panel mounting

Cheap prints, labels and other paper ephemera can be mounted directly onto chipboard panels without glass.

1 Cut the panel to the size of the item and smooth the edges with sandpaper.

2 Chamfer the edges with a plane and fill them with cellulose filler. Rub down with sandpaper when dry.

3 Paint the edges with emulsion. (Black is the most popular color.)

4 Mount the picture onto the panel, using the ‘wet mounting’ technique (see below).

Wet mounting Paper expands when it gets wet, so handle it with extreme care and practice first on something unimportant.

1 Size the cardboard or chipboard backing board with smooth wallpaper paste.

2 When the size is dry, moisten the back of the print with a damp rag then dab with blotting paper or tissues until the print is limp but not wet.

3 Brush a thin coat of wallpaper paste over the back of the print.

4 Lift the pasted print carefully by the top edge. Align the bottom edge with the edges of the backing.

5 Lower the print onto the board as evenly as you can.

6 Cover the print with greaseproof paper and smooth it with a dry sponge, working from the centre outwards to remove any air bubbles and wrinkles.

7 Remove the greaseproof paper and wipe off any excess paste.

8 Cover the print with another sheet of greaseproof paper and a sheet of card. Weight down until dry.

(Large prints may buckle the backing board as they dry. To prevent this, stick paper roughly the same weight as the print onto the back of the board, using the same technique.)

Hanging pictures

- Use nylon cord or 3-ply picture wire (not string) knotted into D-rings, screw eyes or back hooks.

- Screw eyes are suitable if the moulding of the frame is thick enough to take the screw without splitting.

- For heavy pictures, use back hooks and screw them to the back of the frame mouldings.

- Hang pictures on picture hooks (sold as single or double hooks). These come complete with fine masonry nails that can be hammered into the wall.

- For concrete walls or walls which have been given a concrete coating to prevent damp, use special plastic hooks with three or four short, needle-like nails to hammer in. Beware with these because the nails are intentionally very short, which means they may become dislodged if pulled.

If your bathroom is tiled, or if there is a tiled splashback around the bath, the simplest solution is to bridge the gap with quadrant tiles the ceramic equivalent of wooden quadrant beading.

These are normally available singly as straight lengths with both ends cut square, or with one end finished in a bullnose, and in mitred pairs for coping with internal corners. One drawback with quadrant tiles is that they are becoming difficult to obtain, and it’s worth bearing in mind that not only can they work out quite expensive, but they also come in limited range of colors (designed to existing bathroom suites rather than tile ranges).

If you’re going to seal the gap in course of actually tiling the wall splashback, then you can fix the tiles in position and grout them in the way, 12-24 hours after the last has been pressed into place_ In to accommodate any movement, you should make sure that the Wes bedded in a thick layer of silicone where they rest on the bath’s lip.Onthe hand, if you’re faced with existing round the edge. simply bed the tiles in mastic from start to finish. using instead of grout as well.

Quadrant tiles can be used successfrAl situations where the wall is not hied—pew painted, papered or timber-ciad.

However, in the last case its worth considering the use of timber quadrant beading as an alternative. All you have to do is pin it to the cladding or fix it to clean, bare plaster using an epoxy resin adhesive.

Again, make sure that the timber is bedded in mastic where it rests on the lip of the bath, shower tray or basin. Do remember to treat the timber with a good-quality preservative (one that can be painted or varnished over) and then paint or varnish it all round, including any cut ends, before fixing it in place.

The sash (or double-hung) window was used a great deal on homes right into this century almost to the exclusion of any other type. It’s a period feature, often adding a touch of authentic charm. Unfortunately Sash windows can be very difficult to keep in good working order.

Sash windows actually consist of two separate windows – sashes is their proper name – each sliding vertically in its own channel. When both are closed, the sash in the outer channel is at the top, and the inner sash is at the bottom.

The channels are formed by three sets of beading, running round the inside of the frame. These are known (starting with the outermost one) as the outer, parting and staff beads. The outer and staff beads lie flat on the window frame, but the parting bead is fixed on its edge. The outer bead, in fact. may well form part of the frame itself; the other two are always separate pieces, nailed in place. For easy removal they should never be glued, or maintenance of the window becomes impossible.

How sashes work

Counterbalancing weights, each pair of which weighs the same as the sash they’re attached to, ensure that the sashes stay in whatever position you choose and don’t come crashing down – perhaps with such force that the glass is shattered. There’s a weight on each side of each sash, hidden in a compartment inside the frame. Each weight is attached to its sash by a cord that passes over a pulley at the top of the frame and is nailed to the side of the sash.

The drawback of sash windows is that it’s almost impossible to make them fully draught-proof. although some success can be achieved with brush-type draught excluders. The only sure way is to install secondary double glazing – the type that fits within the window reveal and is hinged to, or slides in. its own frame. You can’t attach fixed double glazing panels directly to each sash because they won’t slide past each other. And even if you could, the extra weight would throw the sashes out of balance. preventing the inner one from remaining in the open position and the outer one from remaining closed.

Minor repairs

However, many lesser faults can easily be cured if you know what to do. Often you needn’t even dismantle the window.

Hacking out and replacing old. crurnblinp putty, and renewing a cracked pane of glass, for example, are two jobs where dismantling the window is unnecessary. And if a pulley squeaks – just oil it.

You can even repair a sash corner joint that has begun to open up, provided you wedge the sash firmly in place while you’re working on it. All that’s needed is a flat, L- shaped metal plate which you can easily, buy: you just screw it across the corner. It looks a hit unsightly if left exposed; but you can conceal it by first chiseling out a shallow L-shaped recess to take it, and afterwards covering it with paint (not emulsion paint), Cellulose filler and then a top coat of paint – in that order, so that the water in the filler doesn’t rust the metal and discolor the paintwork.

Filler will also take care of minor cracks, dents and other blemishes in the wood. You can do a certain amount of redecorating, too, without removing the sashes. but you’ll find it hard to get a neat edge as you approach the concealed parts.

Major repairs

Some jobs, however, do call for taking the window to pieces – a procedure that’s far easier than it sounds. One such task is silencing a rattle; the root of the trouble in this case is that the beads are too far apart and need repositioning.

Pries off first the staff bead and then the parting bead on each side of the frame. There’s usually no need to interfere with the sections of beading at top and bottom, but you’ll have to take out the inner sash to get at the parting bead. To remove a bead, cut down the angle with a sharp knife first to break the paint seal and avoid tearing off flakes. Then push a chisel between it and the frame, as near the nails as you can, and spring it out gradually.

The various beads may well have become damaged over the years. In that case you can simply replace them with new ones, bought from a timber merchant (ask for them by their proper names, and he’ll understand). To lessen the risk of splitting, drill pilot holes for the nails oval nails are best. When re- fixing the beads, position them close enough to each sash to cure the rattle, but not too close. or you’ll bring about the second common fault: sashes which won’t slide freely, or at all.

The other and more likely reason for that. however, is a build-up of paint in the channels? You can’t just go on putting coat upon coat of paint when you redecorate them. and the only remedy when they jam is to sand or scrape off the paint where thrashes are binding, leaving room for the primer and one or two further coats that will have to be re-applied to the bare wood.

When you want to get into your attic there is no reason why you should not use an ordinary ladder, provided it is secured to the opening in some way – by hooks and eyes perhaps, but whatever you do, never use a pair of step ladders. In trying to climb out of the attic and groping for the top of the steps with your foot, you could easily knock them over, leaving you stranded, or worse you might fall with the ladder causing physical injury.

One drawback to using a normal ladder is that you will need somewhere to store it and you will have to go to the trouble of digging it out of storage every time you want to get into the roof space — or it may be in use elsewhere in the house.

A much more satisfactory solution to the problem of climbing into your attic is the proprietary extendable attic ladder. This sits just above the trapdoor on hinges or pivots screwed to the inside or top of the opening frame and can be pulled down whenever you need it. Such a ladder, with its own built-in storage, makes your attic much more usable and accessible.

Purpose-made attic ladders are usually produced in aluminum with 2 or Sin wide treads. Most have two or three sliding sections with a safety catch that must be released before they can be extended. Some are linked to the trapdoor by a special bracket so that they come immediately to hand when you open it up.

When closed, the ladder lies across the tops of the joists next to the trapdoor, but it swings upwards over the opening before it can be pulled down, so it is essential that there is enough height above the opening for this.

Another important factor is the size of the opening itself which must be large enough to allow the ladder to pass through. This is not usually a problem if you are making a new opening, but if you want to fit the ladder to an existing opening, you will have to take some careful measurements. You will also need to know the distance from the floor of the attic (not the ceiling) to the floor of the room below.

For extremely limited attic space, there is a concertina attic ladder that folds up compactly rather than sliding.

Attic ladders can be simple or complex in design with risers and balustrades just like a proper staircase. Most come with some form of automatic trapdoor catch operated by relatively light finger-tip pressure on the door itself.

Obviously, the method of installing an attic ladder varies from one make and model to another, but usually it is quite a simple procedure. Often all that is necessary is to screw the hinges or pivots to the framework of the opening (on the same side as the trapdoor hinges) and fit the automatic catch to the other side of the opening. There may also be travel stops to adjust on the ladder and a bracket to fit to the trapdoor to hold the ladder so that it is easily reached.